In Absentia


IN ABSENTIA
Deliberating various imposed standards, Vermibus has built a recognizable oeuvre, which culminates with his project entitled In Absentia (2017). Works from the project unveil an introspective layer of Vermibus’ work, where macrocosms of consumerism intertwine with microcosmos of the artist’s subjective journey into the depths of the self. The project began with the creation of 21 artworks that were installed in the wagons of the Paris Metropolitain. As a crown of the series, Vermibus produced an atmospheric video, an autonomous work of art, a step forward from the documentary short films he was creating to date.
“In Absentia” video is a brooding visual tale about urban life, cleared of every and any distraction, including people, alluding to a plethora of issues the citizens face daily, from visual pollution to personal loneliness.
Asking some of the crucial questions about present reality in the post-truth world, “In Absentia” opened a possibility to observe Vermibus’ work in broader context, surpassing the realm of public urban art.

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Unveiling Beauty

UNVEILING BEAUTY
Unveiling Beauty (2015) has been one of the most challenging artistic engagements of this Spanish artist to date.
Documented by the photographer Mark Rigney and the filmmaker Xar Lee, the project takes the artist’s inimitable style to a whole new conceptual level. The project resulted in series of new public interventions during the course of the most influential Fashion Week in New York, London, Milan, and Paris. Through a sequence of interventions in the “Big Four”, Vermibus endeavored to address the key issues of beauty-cults, at the very core of their creation.
The artist began his journey at the New York Fashion Week in September 2015, in a city that is often referred as the center of the fashion world. He then moved towards London, where he set up displays in Shoreditch, Sloane Square, on a bus station in front of the V&A museum, and in front of the Harrods department store.
Moving on, he arrived in Milan, a city which has a major influence on international fashion trends, taking over adverts in the Piazza Cavour, Piazza Repubblica and via Galileo Galilei. The last stop on Vermibus’ creative journey was Paris, a historical and cultural center of the fashion industry and a crown of this project.
The artist installed his provocative artworks at various locations across the city including the rue La Fayette, Le Bon Marché, Palais de Tokyo, Printemps, and Alma Marceau. In all of the four cities, he challenged the atmosphere of glamour and consumption, countering this byproduct of the Fashion Week craze.

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Dissolving Europe


DISSOLVING EUROPE
His first large-scale project was Dissolving Europe (2013), where he built on his previous series by attempting to take over adverts in the most important capital cities of Europe.
In this case, the concept behind was to mix posters from different countries to avoid the viewer to recognize the original campaigns. Grabbing posters from one city, painting them on improvised studios during the course of the travel and installing them in the next city.
Vermibus painted over 30 artworks that were installed in Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Milan, Vienna and Prague during the course of nearly three weeks.

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NO-AD Project



NO-AD PROJECT
The “NO-AD Project” (2012), had the goal to reduce the impact of advertisement citizens are exposed to, by removing the posters and leaving the space empty.
The project took place during the 24th of November of 2012. This specific date was chosen for being the day before the worldwide most consumerist day of the year, the Black Friday.
This proposal begun in symbolical solidarity to Buy Nothing Day, an initiative organized by Ted Dave and the magazine ADBUSTERS, in which participants abstain from buying anything within the 24 hours of the Black Friday.
Vermibus decided to go one step further and reduce the willingness to consume by removing the advertising messages placed in the public space the day before. Leaving the lightboxes void of commercial messages without adding anything instead.

NO-AD DAY
Two years after the NO-AD Project, Vermibus decided to open the proposal to the public and started an open-call to organize the first worldwide action against public space advertising, the NO-AD Day (2014).
In its first year more than 60 people participated simultaneously in more than 20 cities all over the world and freed more than 300 advertising spots during the course of the journey.
The NO-AD Day keeps on happening with new and loyal participants and different cities are part of the project. As far as is known, the NO-AD day has happened in 47 cities all over the world.

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Videos

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Selected Exhibitions

Selected exhibitions

2021 · NFTism: No Fear in Trying · UnitLondon/Institut · London (U.K)
2021 · DECENNIUM (Solo Show) · Mazel Galerie · Brussels (Belgium)
2020 · Urban Art Fair · Mazel Galerie · Paris (France)
2021 · Deconstructions (Solo Show) · Le Cabinet d’Amateur · Paris (France)

2020 · Urban Nation Museum · Part of the permanent collection · Berlin (Germany)

2019 · Art Strasbourg Art Fair · Mazel Galerie · Strasbourg (France)
2019 · District 13 Art Fair · Mazel Galerie · Paris (France)
2019 · Urban Nation Biennale · Urban Nation · Berlin (Germany)
2019 · Artist talk ·Forward Festival · Hamburg (Germany)
2019 · Human (Solo Show) · Le Cabinet d’Amateur · Paris (France)
2019 · Reversible · Madrid Street Art Project · Madrid (Spain)
2019 · Artist talk · Forward Festival · Vienna (Austria)
2019 · Skin (Solo Show) Mazel Galerie · Brussels (Belgium)

2018 · Artist talk (with Elena Gayo) · 19ª Jornada de Conservación de Arte Contemporaneo · Reina Sofía Museum · Madrid (Spain)
2018 · Absencess (Solo Show) Le Cabinet d’Amateur · Paris (France)
2018 · Brutally Human (Solo Show) Moniker Art Fair · NYC (U.S.A)
2018 · Artist Talk · See Conference · Wiesbaden (Germany)
2018 · Brutally Human (Solo Show) Moniker Art · London (U.K)
2018 · Artist talk (with Elena Gayo) · 19ª Jornada de Conservación de Arte Contemporaneo · Reina Sofía Museum · Madrid (Spain)

2017 · IN ABSENTIA (Solo Show) · Open Walls Gallery · Berlin (Germany)
2017 · Artist talk and video release “In Absentia” · Moniker Art Fair · London (U.K)
2017 · Unseen Art Fair (Solo Show) · Open Walls Gallery & In4art · Amsterdam (Netherlands)
2017 · Artist talk – Bau Design University · Barcelona (Spain)
2017 · True Grit (Duo Show with Jordan Seiler) · Open Walls Gallery · Berlin (Germany)
2017 · Artist Talk – Kunstskolen i Rogaland · Stavanger (Norway)
2017 · Nuart Festival · Stavanger (Norway)
2017 · Urban Art Biennale · Völklingen (Germany)
2017 · Street Art / Inventory (Group Show) · Open Walls Gallery · Berlin (Germany)
2017 · Urvanity International New Contemporary Art Fair · Open Walls Gallery · Madrid (Spain)

2016 · The Poster Remediated · Poster Museum at Wilanów · Warsaw (Poland)
2016 · Art Fair Cologne (Group Show) · Open Walls Gallery · Cologne (Germany)
2016 · Unveiling Beauty (Solo Show) · Open Walls Gallery · Berlin (Germany)
2016 · Art Marbella (Group Show) · Carles Taché Gallery · Marbella (Spain)
2016 · Artist Talk at Vincularte · Observatorio de Arte Urbano & GGIIC · La Casa Encendida – Madrid (Spain)

2015 · Urbanart Biennale 2015 · Weltkulturerbe Völklinger Hütte · Völklingen (Germany)
2015 · Grand Opening (Group Show) · Open Walls Gallery · Berlin (Germany)
2015 · Berliner Liste (Solo Show) · Open Walls Gallery · Berlin (Germany)

2014 · Moniker Art Fair (Solo Show) · Open Walls Gallery · London (United Kingdom)
2014 · Carne y hueso (Solo Show) · Mazel Gallery · Brussels (Belgium)
2014 · La estética del dolor (Solo Show) · La Taché Gallery · Barcelona (Spain)

2013 · Première Dissolving Europe · Platoon Kunsthalle · Berlin (Germany)
2013 · Art Fair Cologne (Solo Show) · Open Walls Gallery · Cologne (Germany)
2013 · Escape The Golden Cage (Group Show) · Palais Kinsky · Vienna (Austria)

2012 · Unmasking Kate (Solo Show) · Moniker Art Fair · London (United Kingdom)
2012 · Showcase Reboot · Platoon Kunsthalle · Berlin (Germany)

Biography

BIOGRAPHY
From the smoothing of facial skin, over the reduction of eye bags and wrinkles erasure, to enlargement of eyes and lips, “photoshopping” the human body to “perfection” has become the norm in advertising.
Through the presentation of this idealized view of the human body, advertisers seek to persuade customers to buy their products, essentially promising a better life. Beauty has become synonym of success and happiness, and even if the average person realize that this premise is genuinely false it keeps on being socially accepted and followed by the vast majority.

The Berlin-based artist and activist Vermibus has developed a unique practice centered around the critique of contemporary
beauty standards. He comments on the attempts of advertisement and consumer society in general that aim to take away individual identities only to replace them by the one of a certain brand. This artist bases his practice on targeting the depersonalizing effects of advertising, which he negates by exaggerating them. He removes official poster ads from the public space and alters them in his studio by applying chemical solvents to the image.
He dissolves the face and flesh of the models appearing in the campaigns, smudges and erases brand logos, and then returns the resignified ads into their original context.
Through this resignification, Vermibus humanizes the figures that were previously depersonalized, as a means of launching a sharp social critique of the advertising industry and their practices on the human body.

Selected Publications

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS